Abstract
BACKGROUND: A large variation in seed coat colors and seed phenolic metabolites is present in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The study of the relationships between seed coat color phenotype and the phenolic profile is an important step in the elucidation of the gene network involved in the phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway. However, this relationship is still poorly understood in this species. RESULTS: A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was used to investigate the genomic regions associated with the synthesis of 10 flavonoids (5 anthocyanins and 5 flavonols) and with 10 seed coat color traits using a set of 308 common bean lines of the Spanish Diversity Panel (SDP) which have been genotyped with 11,763 SNP markers.. A total of 31 significant SNP-trait associations (QTNs) were identified, grouped in 20 chromosome regions: 6 for phenolic metabolites on chromosomes Pv01, Pv02, Pv04, Pv08, and Pv09, 13 for seed coat color on chromosomes Pv01, Pv02, Pv06, Pv07, and Pv10, and 1 including both types of traits located on chromosome Pv08. In all, 58 candidate genes underlying these regions have been proposed, 31 of them previously described in the phenylpropanoid pathway in common bean, and 27 of them newly proposed in this work based on the association study and their homology with Arabidopsis anthocyanin genes. CONCLUSIONS: Chromosome Pv08 was identified as the main chromosome involved in the phenylpropanoid pathway and in consequence in the common bean seed pigmentation, with three independent chromosome regions identified, Phe/C_Pv08(2.7) (expanding from 2.71 to 4.04 Mbp), C_Pv08(5.8) (5.89-6.59 Mbp), and Phe_Pv08(62.5) (62.58 to 63.28 Mbp). Candidate genes previously proposed by other authors for the color genes V and P were validated in this GWAS. Candidate genes have been tentatively proposed from this study for color genes B and Rk on Pv02, Asp on Pv07, and complex C on Pv08. These results help to clarify the complex network of genes involved in the genetic control of phenolic compounds and seed color in common bean and provide the opportunity for future validation studies.